


Unto Land and Sea

by kagespirit



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fantasy, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Loss of Parent(s), Mystery, Parent Death, Revelations, Selkies, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-09 00:23:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4326750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kagespirit/pseuds/kagespirit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her mother is dead, lost at sea with whispers of suicide, and Alice Wilson returns to home to pay respects. But with her father also on death's door Alice finds the secrets her parents kept may go deeper then she ever imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unto Land and Sea

The funeral home was packed, men and women and their families milling around the room with soft whispers and pointed looks. It would be a nice gesture, if it wasn't because that was how things were done. A death in the community was expected to be met with the community, no exceptions. Even for a woman the community whispered about and pitied; an obvious outsider. That was why her daughter slipped through the doors quietly, head bowed to stare at her black shoes. 

“Oh, Alice!” 

Said young woman stopped and forced up smile. “Mrs. Carter, hello,” she greeted, letting the older woman take her hand with a squeeze. 

“Hello my dear, it good to see you. Though I wish the circumstances were better.” The green-eyed elder seem to study the younger before her. “Goodness, you do look well though. University has obviously taken a shine to you.” 

“Yes, ma'am, it has.” What else could she say? 

“Your mother was so proud of you. Always said you would make something of yourself from it; her little girl off to school.” Mrs. Carter paused a moment and squeezed Alice's hand. “I am so sorry, my dear.” 

“It's fine.” Alice managed a subdued smile with the assurance. “... Is my father here?” 

“Of course, my dear; but ah ...” The woman looked uncomfortably to the back of the funeral home and Alice felt her stomach sink. “He isn't taking it well. Young Isaac, the handyman your parent hired around Christmas?” She waited till Alice nodded in understanding. “He had to bring him.” 

Alice clenched her jaw and put up an appropriate smile. “Ah, thank you Mrs. Carter. I better go check on him.” She managed to twist her hand free and head through the building, trying not to be sidetracked by the few that stopped her to whisper condolences.

It was the smallest room, barely enough for the empty casket and the row of chairs along the wall. Alice didn't need to get close to know the old man there had been drinking. His face was flushed with color, eyes redden from more than just tears and the black suit looked like it been slept in as he slumped in the chair. 

“ … Dad?” 

The man's head turned, half-rising, at the sound before his face paled in color. “Selena ..” The word was garbled, choked, hand risen up before he fell forward. 

“Dad!” 

\---------------

 

It was the knock at the door that jarred Alice aware, jerking in the hard plastic seat to look back at the man in the doorway. A lanky redhead with fair skinned despite the summer sun, he wasn't someone she recognized. “Hello?” 

“Hello, ah, I'm Isaac.” The man gave a small sheepish smile. “Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Mrs. Carter got ahold of me, asked me to come up and see if you needed anything from the house,” he said, eyes flickering to the still body in the bed by Alice. “ .. How is he?” 

“Not good.” Alice replied tightly as she swallowed, looking back to the monitored figure and the prominent breathing tube before she had to look away. “And ah, no; I have some stuff at one of the hotels but I'm ok for now. Thank you.” She wasn't surprised how quickly word had spread. Trenton was a small town, just south of Cape Fear, and the appearance of an ambulance at the funeral home would have sent tongues wagging. 

“I am sorry.” Isaac said, stepping inside the room then, brown eyes flickering from where they stared at the man to her. 

“Seems everyone is saying that to me lately,” Alice replied tiredly, rubbing her hands over her face. “I didn't even know she was missing until this morning.” Much less the funeral had already been planned. 

Isaac took the other open chair, dragging it by hers, as he sat. “He has been saying she is still alive ...” 

Alice scoffed in her throat, swallowing at the burning knot she found there. “She went out sailing in the middle of a … in the middle of a storm. How does he think she will come back from that?!” 

Isaac held up both hands in a warding sign. “I know, they searched for days for her but after they found the remains of the boat...” 

Alice took a breath. “I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you.” She said, closing her eyes as she forced up a smile. “It's just been a long day.” 

“It's fine. Look, you've been here for a few hours, why don't you go down and get a bite from the cafeteria?” 

“I’m not sure. I probably should be here ...” 

“I'll stay. Go on.” Isaac smiled. “I'll stay here till you get back. The cafeteria is terrible but it is better than nothing.” 

Alice stood after a moment, nodding. “Yea, I stayed here for a few day as a kid. Couldn't eat broccoli for years afterward ...” She managed a twisted smile. 

“Too much fun one day at the beach?” 

Alice shook her head, frowning. “No; surgery,” she tilted her head with a furrowed brow. “I was like … four maybe five? I don't really remember.” She answered, rubbing at her hands. “Anyway, I'll be back. Thank you for this.” 

“Don't worry about it.” Isaac waved her off with a smile as she slipped out of the room. That smile vanished once she was out of sight turning a venomous look upon the man in the bed as his hands fisted in his pockets. “Don't worry at all about it.” He muttered softly as he settled to watch. 

\----------

It was three days before Alice finally returned to her childhood home. The hospital had been an influx of visitors bearing offerings of food, condolences and time but there was only so much they could do. James Wilson had not regained consciousness since his heart attack at the funeral home. And, the doctor finally admitted hours ago, they were not sure if he ever would. There was nothing more they could do but wait and watch. 

Isaac, the most constant visitor James and Alice had, finally talked her into going home. She needed a shower and more sleep then catnapping in a chair he said, passing her the house key. He promised to keep watch and call her if there was any changes.

So Alice stood before the two story building, the roar of the ocean soft in her ears once she stepped inside. “ … I'm home.” Nothing but the muted sound of the ocean and the tick of the clock in the foyer answered her. 

Alice swallowed as she slipped off her shoes and wandered through the house, mindlessly weaving to the back of the house and the kitchen there. The window, the large panoramic view of the ocean and beach below, was still as breathtaking as it was when she was a child. A view tainted however, with the image of her mother watching out it wistfully as she cooked and went around the household chores. 

Alice shivered, chafing at her arms and wondered why Isaac had left the house so chilly despite that no one was home, as she hurried headed back to the foyer and upstairs. Her father insisted the house be kept at a low temperature, claiming it was good for her mother. She wished Isaac had not left it so. 

Surprisingly her bedroom remained the same as when she left for college two years before, the walls painted a creamy white with the blue bed sheets turned up as if prepared to be slept in. Her desk by the window cluttered with boxes she hadn't managed to take with her to university and the few pictures she left behind strew about the walls. This, Alice decided, was her mother's doing. It hadn't been nearly so neat and tidy when she lasted visited. 

Rubbing at her right cheek Alice looked down the hallway to the only other bedroom. She would need to get some things, at least she could check her father's medicine and see if he had been taking it before. Not to mention Isaac said the only other shower was not working right, something wrong with the waterlines. She busied herself for a few moments more in her room, managing to dig out some old loose clothing, before padding down the hallway. 

Alice determinedly passed through the bedroom into the attached bathroom, and luxuriated in the cold shower for as long as the water ran. But once dried and redressed she reluctantly opened the closet door, just to retrieve some clothing for her father. She wasn't expecting to bang her shin on the large wooden trunk sitting at the bottom of it. 

“Ow ….” The brunette hissed as she rubbed at the area and eyed the trunk. It was a long wooden thing, heavy brass clasped around it as if to hold it close. But the small combination lock was open. “Huh ...” Peering over her shoulder a moment, despite she knew she was home alone, Alice took off the lock and lifted the heavy lid. 

The smell from inside the trunk almost made her gag. The musk of animal fur, the sharp slick scent of oil and the rot of old wood making Alice rock back on her heels as she waved the air to try to clear it. Despite the smell, as she peered in a second time, there was nothing inside but a small green covered book sitting in the middle of trunk.

“Ok ...” Alice muttered as she reached in and lifted the book up, turning to examine the spine. Orkneyjar it was titled with some faded name under it she couldn't make out. Wrinkling her nose the brunette flipped through the pages before the book opened naturally at the crease of an old photo between the pages. 

It was an old Polaroid picture, faded with time, but the subjects were still clear. It struck her just how much she did resemble her mother. The same facial structure, the same dark brown eyes and hair only shades different. Her mother never tanned despite years in the sunlight and surf and Alice had burnt like a lobster every summer, only for it to fade back to the pale white like her mother's. But even in photos there was something different about her mother. She was beautiful, almost unnaturally so, even as the years progressed. 

But as her eyes drifted down along the picture they focused upon an oddity. She was young in the picture, likely less the five years old, and her waving hand was held tight together by skin draped between the fingers. Skin the surgery had removed, likely less than a year later. Her father claimed it was so she looked normal, not like some kind of a freak. 

Her fingers rubbed together before Alice slipped the photo back into the book, glancing at the page it rested upon. 

Given the insatiable taste mortal men had for selkie brides, and of course selkie men for mortal women, children said to the result of a union between mortal and selkie were common in folk-tales. The story of the Goodman o' Wastness and his seven selkie children is a typical example of this genre. However, the phenomenon was not simply restricted to fireside yarns and, even in present day, families still claimed descent from the selkie-folk.

One allegedly true story, documented by the folklorist, Walter Traill Dennison, centers around one family from the North Isles of Orkney whose children were all born with "selkiepaws" — webbed feet and fingers.

“I was wondering when you would find that.” 

“Yah!” she whirled around, hand to her pounding chest as she gaped at the figure in the doorway. “Jesus, Isaac! Don't do that!” 

“I am sorry.” Isaac smile but his eyes were only on the book in her hand. “Your mother left that for you.” 

Alice frowned, looking down at the fallen book. “A book of folklore?” She was aware of what selkie were, seal-people was a popular trope in fantasy. It hadn't been something allowed in the house but then again there were a lot of things that hadn't been allowed in the house. She wondered where her mother had gotten this. 

“Maybe.” 

“What are you doing here? I thought you were at the hospital...” 

“Mrs. Carter came by, insisted I get something to eat as well. She promised to call if there were any changes.” The male replied, shrugging carelessly to Alice's accusing look. 

“Oh. Alright, I’d better go relieve her then ...” Alice said, pushing to stand but was halted as Isaac lounged still in the doorway. 

“Later. There is something I want to show you.” 

“Can't it wait?” 

“It's about your mother.” Isaac replied. “It wasn't a suicide Alice.” 

“ … Isaac, she sailed out knowing there was storm coming.” Alice replied, trying to gentle her tone even as she shifted uneasily. 

“I know. But it's not what you think.” 

“What is it then?” 

“Come on, and I'll show you.” 

_______________

 

This, Alice was aware, was a very bad idea. Following someone likely unhinged down to the water's edge was not a decision made by the wise. Maybe she was a little unhinged herself. “So what exactly am I looking at?” She asked, glancing the brown-eyed male and firmly kept him between her and the ocean. 

“You'll see.” Isaac promise, a serene smile but his eyes squinted in the last dim rays of sunlight to look out over the water. 

“Ok ...” Alice breathed, glancing out over the water. “But I don't see anything.” 

“Just wait.” 

Alice opened her mouth to reply when something rocketed out of the water fifty feet out before diving back within. “What ...” 

“Ah, there she is.” 

The figure shot out of the water again, closer now, with a sound a little higher than the bark of a dog. 

The first reports of seals in North Carolina had been in the late eighties, a few gray seals spotted just along Cape Fear. Newspapers at the time speculated the beaches were odd for the animals' normal migration and nesting pattern but not completely outside of their range, Alice could remember the big speculate when a gray seal had been found at Kure Beach a year before. 

This light furred beast bound up within the surf, wide brown eyes fixed upon the two, as it barked again. The suddenly the seal reared upwards, head thrust back as if to grasp something within the air. 

Its frame shuddered and Alice took a step back in alarm as something in the throat budged. “What the hell …?” But she got no further as Isaac grasped her arms. 

“Just watch.” 

“What the hell do you mean just....” Alice sputtered as she jerked away but a wet sound forced her head to turn back. 

The seal lay along the surf now, skin flat and empty by pale feet, and in the moonlight Alice drew even paler. 

“Mom?”

“Hello, my dears.”

___________________

 

“I knew the dangers of appearing along the shores.” Selena Wilson spoke, perched along the rock with the fur of the seal across her lap. “We were all warned of such, but this place was so warm and it was late in the night. I didn't realize someone had caught sight of my sisters and I.” 

“Dad.” The word was pained. 

Selena nodded. “Yes; your father. I had left my fur over the rocks; my sisters and I were in the surf. He had grabbed my fur from there and then confronted us. My sisters fled but I could not.” She curled her fingers through the short hair of the fur, fisting for a moment. “And he would not hear my pleas.” 

“So the stories, about selkies that married men that held their furs ...” 

“We cannot be parted far from our coats; to do so is … uncomfortable at best.” Selena's face twisted in a grimace. “As long as he held my fur I could not leave him.” 

Alice was silent at this, the implication clear. “Why didn't you tell me?” 

“What could I say to you?” Selena asked, an eyebrow rose in response. “Tell you that your birth was not my choice? To tell you that I was prisoner in our home? Or ask you to find my fur so I could flee and leave you behind?” She watched her daughter jerk as if struck before continuing gently. “You were a child, what could have I asked you to do?” 

“So you asked your son.” 

“No.” Isaac finally spoke up, making Alice turn back to where he sat in the sand. “I came looking for Mother on my own.” He assured gently and Alice stared. She wondered for a moment how she had missed it, how her father had. Their eyes were the exalt same shade of brown and the lines of his hands … How had she missed that?

“... You were the gray seal from last year?” Alice asked instead and the other nodded. “Then you posed as a human once you found her.” 

Isaac nodded, hands spread open palm before him. “I needed a reason to be within the home, to see if I could locate her furs.” His face twisted, growing hot for a moment. “He must have moved it often to keep Mother from finding it. It was within your bedroom when I found it.” 

“So why leave the book?” 

“You would have questions.” Selena said quietly, just over the roar of the waves, face softening as Alice turned back to face her. “And you are my daughter.” 

Alice's mouth worked at this, swallowing, but no words seem to come to her as the older female extended her hand for her daughter to seize. “You are my daughter. And I have always loved my children.” Selena whispered against her crown, nuzzling into the soft hair as her eyes met Isaac's with a sad smile as he rose to take step into the reach of her other hand. 

Shoulder to shoulder the two stood within their mother's embrace, the smell of the sea hiding the salty scent of tears, and Selena's whispers barely audible over the rumble of waves. How long passed Alice didn't know as she finally lifted her head from the slender shoulder she been pressed to, wiping furiously at her face to hide the stain of tears. “In November, you were trying to tell me.”

“You were old enough now, to questions things. He ordered that I could not tell you but ...” Selena shrugged one bare shoulder with a warm smile. “You had always been too clever by half.” The smile darkened then, fading slowly. “I did not expect him to strike you.” 

Alice rubbed at her right cheek, remembering the bruise she had to try to hide and explain away for weeks. “You weren't happy. I'm not stupid; I knew you weren't happy for years. I just couldn't figure out why you didn't just leave him ...” 

She had come home for Thanksgiving, her father finally seemed to adjust to the idea that she had left for college. She hadn't meant to overhear her mother crying in the kitchen. And she certainly hadn't meant for her father to overhear her confronting her mother at last about why she remained with a man that couldn't even let her go down to the beach alone. 

“You know now.” Selena replied softly, hand cupping her daughter's cheek. “You were gone, out of his reach and your brother had found my fur. I could not risk your father retaking it.” 

“So you faked your death.” There was no heat in the reply this time as Alice leaned into the cool touch. 

“And then I waited for your return.” 

It wasn't how the stories went, Alice knew that as well as anyone, but she was glad for it. Nodding the brunette closed her eyes as she leaned into her mother's hand. But her voice was strong, harsh, when she spoke. “I think it's time I had a talk with my father.” 

_____________

 

But there was no talk to come. No explanations or excuses could be made as the old man never woke. Five days to the funeral of his wife James Wilson died. Alice was unsure if she felt cheated or relieved. Had the misery of his wife been worth it to him? Driving off his only child? The crime he had committed just so he could have a beautiful doll as a wife? Did he regret nothing?

The funeral was quiet at least, the townsfolk closing rank to offer food and comfort and no one voiced any dissent to Isaac remaining by Alice's side. It wouldn't last, an unmarried man and woman in the same house, but she doubt it would need to. Isaac had been silent during the funeral but his eyes never left the sight of the sea once they stepped outside. 

“So what happens now?” Alice asked as she sat heavily at the kitchen table, slipping her feet out of the black shoes she worn while they laid her father to rest. 

“You can go back to school if you want.” Isaac shrugged one shoulder carelessly but his eyes finally turned to watch her. “Mother and I will return home.” 

“Just like that?” 

“I'm afraid so.” Isaac smiled, not unkindly. “This is … not our place. We are not human, Alice.” 

“I know. I just ...” Alice trailed off, rubbing at her hands. “When do you leave?” 

“I can't stay past midnight.” Isaac's head tilted, trying to catch her eye as he reached out to grasp her hand. “You have a life here, you have begun to build a life for yourself, Mother is proud of you for that. But … there are ways if you wish to come home with us.” 

“A half-breed?” she retorted, lips twisted in a humorless smile.

“Our mother wasn't the first taken as a bride by a human.” Isaac reminded. “Nor was she the first to bear children as such. You would be welcomed as her daughter, even by my own father.” The male squeezed her hand again in assurance. “There are ways, but you will have to make up your mind, it will be years before we can return to the land.” 

Alice was silent looking at the hand joined with hers; the long pale fingers almost a match to her own. “I think I have an idea.” 

________________________

Three years later 

“My goodness, Alice is that you?” 

Alice Wilson sighed to herself before she turned with a smile. “Mrs. Carter, hello,” she greeted, letting the older woman take her hand with a squeeze. 

“Hello my dear, I wasn't expecting to see you today! Let me have a look at you ...” The woman squinted at her, smiling. “My goodness, you do look just like your mother. Coming to check on the old place are you?” 

“Actually I'm just here for paperwork, signing things over for the new owners.” 

“Oh, yes. A lovely couple; moved up here from Southpoint for some peace and quiet.” Mrs. Carter gushed. “But what about you; I understand selling but ...” 

“No reason to keep it.” Alice smiled before the other could go on. “I'm heading out of state now, just finished my last semester.” 

“Oh yes, of course! What was it you had been studying again?” 

“Marine biology actually; planning to save the seals and all that.” Alice's lips twisted in an amused smile. 

“Well, I suppose that could certainly be exciting.” The elder look a little confused but rallied. “So, off to work is it then?”

“Oh, you could say that. I found some of my mother's family; they are very involved in marine life. I'm going to stay with them for bit.” 

“Oh my dear, that is just lovely!” Mrs. Carter smiled. “You can reconnect with your family's roots, like I've always said, it is important to know where you came from.” 

“Oh, yes ma'am. I think I will find out at least.” Mrs. Carter didn't understand why Alice smiled quite so brightly at this.

**Author's Note:**

> Selkie: Seal-folk. Beings that live most their lives in the sea and shed their seal skin when they come upon land and are normally considered to be extraordinarily beautiful. Most popularly known is the stories of seal-brides where a human man finds the skin and steals it to force the woman to remain and live as his wife. Traditionally she will pine for the sea until she (or someone else) finds the skins and flees to the ocean, leaving husband and children behind. 
> 
> Orkneyjar is actually based off a community in Scotland where a lot of selkie stories come from. 
> 
> As always, please read and review. 
> 
> Thank you.


End file.
